No Collusion! Told You So. Now Let's to Move On

That did not stop the President from debasing  him on an almost daily basis. Accusing him of conducting a ‘Witch Hunt’. (To Mueller's credit, he completely ignored the President's slings and arrows and continued to work diligently until his committee’s investigation was complete.)  

I can’t even count the number of times I heard the President say ‘No Collusion’. At which the vast majority of Democrats must have smirked each time they heard it.

Media hog - and House Intelligence Committee chairman, Adam Schiff never wasted a opportunity to describe the ‘overwhelming evidence’ of collusion that Mueller’s investigation already suggested well before they completed their task. To Schiff and his fellow travelers, it was a no-brainer. It all pointed to Trump’s collusion with the Russians to throw the election - and the later obstruction of justice by the President (and/or his men ) in the firing of former FBI director, James Comey.   

The mainstream media did not lag too far behind Adam Schiff and company in assuming guilt. Although pretending to be objective in their reporting, the bias came through loud and clear. His guilt was so obvious that it was only a formality to be declared when the time finally came.

I for one never believed that the President was guilty of collusion – and said so many times. After about a year of investigation there had been no indication of that from the Special Counsel. I thought that a year was surely enough time to find such evidence. The  reaction to that by the left was to dismiss that kind of thinking. Saying that I do not understand how a Special Counsel works. They are thorough. They will investigate every possible avenue to determine if a crime was committed. That takes time. And they had the time and the resources to do it. 

The left was convinced that at the end of the day, Trump, his son, his son in law, as well as many others that worked on the campaign will be looking at serious prison time for the crimes they committed.

Well, that is partially true. They were that thorough. After 22 months; over 2800 subpoenas; 34 indictments or guilty pleas (6 of whom were former Trump advisers); and $24 million of our money spent on this investigation - I don’t think there is any doubt about how thorough Mueller was. But it turns out that I was right on the main issue. Mueller’s long investigation concluded exactly what the President has been saying all along. To the surprise and huge disappointment of Democrats there was no collusion at all with the Russians.  None! Zilch! Nada! Zero! Just as I believed there would not be. And there will be no further indictments.

The other issue Trump was investigated for (and for which the Special Counsel was created) is whether the President obstructed justice by firing Comey. Trump was accused of firing him in order to obstruct  his investigation of him. 

That must have seemed like a sure thing to Democrats. But that bubble burst too. Mueller concluded that there was not enough evidence of that to indict the President or any of his family. While he said it did not exonerate him either, the conclusion should be clear. If there is not enough evidence to indict- then he should be considered ‘innocent until proven guilty’. And there was not enough evidence to prove that. Besides in my view it’s hard to say there was obstruction of justice when there was no crime in the first place.

As far as I’m concerned,  ‘Game Over’. It’s time to move on and deal with the real issues. In fact in  a rare instance of journalistic integrity, the mainstream media seems to be sympathetic to that point of view as I have noticed them making that challenge to Democrats who refuse to let go.

And refuse they do. In spades. In almost every case, Democrats are unsatisfied with Attorney General  William Barr’s summary of the report. They insist on making the full report public so that the can go over it with a fine tooth comb and find some crime to pin on the President.

Mueller left open the possibility that Trump might be guilty of obstruction since they could not find enough evidence to prove him guilty. And by golly Democrats are determined to find it!  From their perspective - absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Put another way, they are presuming him guilty until his innocence is proven. 

And even if they don’t find any evidence of obstruction, they are not giving up so easily. Now that they control the House they have initiated a multitude of other investigations into every aspect of President’s life.

That said, I don’t think they are looking at impeachment. What they are looking for is as much dirt as they can to throw at him in 2020. (...as of they don’t have enough?)

That is what this is all about, despite all their talk about congressional responsibility of ‘checks and balances’ and oversight. They might think they sound high minded. But I think the public, and perhaps even the mainstream media sees right through them at this point. Democrats are in ‘Witch Hunt’ mode. And wasting a lot of taxpayer money in the process.

I’ve said this before but it bears repeating: If they are really so interested in the integrity of America’s public servants, they ought to put themselves under the same scrutiny. I wonder how many members of congress (in both Houses) would survive the kind of intense scrutiny the President is getting. Not too many, I’ll bet.

I know all this sounds like a ringing endorsement for the President. But it isn’t. I am still ambivalent about him because of his lack of character - and  the way he constantly embarrasses himself, his office and the country. His behavior in office on an almost daily basis is so bad that - much as I support most of his policies - I’m not sure that is enough for me to support his reelection in 2020.

Meanwhile, I think Democrats might be shooting themselves in the foot by their relentless pursuit of Trump in this manner, instead of focusing on the issues of the day. I wonder how many open minded voters feel about what the Democrats are doing? I think even the mainstream media recognizes this. Which is why they are turning the tables on Democrats - forcing them to defend their dogged pursuit of this. In my view if Democrats keep this up - their chances of wining in 2020 decrease.

Which may be a good thing the way they are going lately. At least with respect to support for Israel. Which  has once again shown to be lacking. Some of the current contenders are boycotting AIPAC, a pro Israel lobbying organization. From Fortune Magazine: 

God forbid if any of these candidates win the election. It will not bode well for Israel. It will however bode very well for a more ‘even-handed’ approach that will surely auger in more UN condemnations of Israel, and even a Palestinian State on the West Bank. Which will take its place right alongside Gaza. Which would be an outcome too terrible to contemplate!